Nostaligia
by ojala-amor
Summary: Nostaligia: A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time lots of different genres
1. Chapter 1

Nostalgia

Prologue (possibly part 1, if I decide to have another part)

Standard Disclaimer Applies

A/N: This story has been collecting dust in my computer for a long time, and initially I hadn't meant for it to be read or anything like that, but then I decided I wanted to share it. But anyway this story at some points may not revolve around the initial couple that I want to write about but it will tie into it, but yes I did choose an unconventional couple as a secondary or as a primary (as of right now I'm not really sure) but so what I kind of like them together.

2 A/N: Just a reminder that this story is AU, and if at some point I do decide to incorporate elements of the true story line then it will much different and it most likely not involve the main characters in their usual spots, that and it will happen later on and it will be much more of a horror element than it is in the show.

…

The sky was too blue, the birds too happy, and the sun too bright, everything was smiling when it should be crying with the loved ones of Masaki Kurosaki. Her funeral was filled with the heart breaking silence of all, Isshin did not cry he couldn't. He knew that she would want him to put on a smile for their children, so instead he smoked, the same way that she complimented him on their first date, it was the only thing he could do to not break his promise to her of being strong.

Isshin looked down to his left to see his two daughters Karin and Yuzu with tears in their eyes, as if they weren't sure if this was real or not, in that moment he regretted bringing them here. He hated that their last memory of their mother would be of black clad adults with insipid and lamented expressions on their faces. He would have to make it up to them.

He then turned his attention to his 9 year old son, Ichigo, he was the most shaken up. His brown eyes were open so wide that they were sure to hurt, and his body was shaking, and silent tears streamed down his young face. Isshin pulled him slightly closer to him, wrapping his arm across his chest, and this triggered the break of the waterfall, his tears began rolling down his face uncontrollably and his voice cried out a loud shriek, causing everyone to jump.

Isshin, without looking up or to his daughters who grabbed each of his arms as he kneeled down, engulfed Ichigo in an enormous embrace and felt his tears soak his suit, but he did not care, his children were the only thing that mattered now, he had to do all he could to provide for them and be a good father.

As he kept holding onto his son, he heard a feminine voice call his name.

"Isshin?" He looked up to see Masumoto Rangiku, his sister-in-law, his former sister-in-law, look down at him with a small smile and red eyes. He didn't remember the last time he saw her, but for a moment he thought he saw Masaki and a smile etched his face, but blinked only to reaffirm his first view of her.

Isshin stood up, while keeping his hand on Ichigo's head. "Hi, Masumoto… It's regretful we have to meet again under these conditions." His voice cracked slightly at the end.

She nodded slightly, then looked down at the twins, and Ichigo, and smiled slightly.

"They've gotten so big, last time I saw Ichigo was when he was 6 years old, and Yuzu, and Karin were so tiny. I should have never moved away…"

Isshin ran a hand through his short black hair, and settled it on Karin's head. "No, Masaki would have wanted you to pursue your dreams, besides these aren't your children they are ours, mine and Masaki's."

Masumoto shifted her weight on her feet for a moment before replying. "Yes I realize that but now that she is gone I regret not spending time with her, I feel so bad about how we parted ways on a sour note. I want to make it up by helping raise them."

"Ah well I expected this to come up, and since I'll be busy with the clinic and all I wouldn't mind having a helping hand, but don't worry about it if it gets too hard on you. I won't force you to do this." Masumoto immediately shook her head.

"No I want to do this, for my sister. I don't want her to think I didn't love her after everything that happened between us." She gave Isshin a weird look which he choose to ignore.

"Well then I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Isshin then turned away from her, and walked over to Masaki's newly made grave site, he dropped his cigarette a while ago, and right now he didn't feel like remembering the times that he spent with Masaki. The thought of her bright smiles, and her joyous laughter made his stomach turn.

"Daddy, when is Mom coming back?" Isshin braced himself as he looked down at his young daughter , Yuzu, whose eyes were wide and spilling over with tears. Isshin looked to Karin, who eyes were downcast and then to Ichigo who looked like as if he never had a happy moment in his life.

"I-I don't know." Isshin managed to whisper slightly under his breath.

Masumoto stood by herself looking at the man her sister left behind and their three beautiful children. She took in a shaky breath, it wasn't fair at all that they were so unhappy. She felt a twinge of jealously when she arrived at the funeral, and no asked about how she was doing after all these years away only to come back to her only sister's death. Even in death people would look over her to her sister Masaki.

She threw her hair behind her shoulder as she took one last lingering look at Isshin. He was stronger than any man she had ever met, no wonder Masaki turned down all those other guys. Masumoto found herself in that moment becoming attracted to the man her sister left behind, although she wouldn't realize this till much later.

…

Isshin sat on the couch with his fingers raking through his thick black hair, he just put his three young children to bed, now all he needed was someone to tuck him in, to whisper soothing words into his ear, to tell him that everything was going to be alright; he needed Masaki.

The tears began to fall silently down his cheeks, it was going to be so hard to come back from this, and the kids how were they going to be happy after their one rock that held them all together?

This was all too much for one man to handle alone, maybe he would hold Masumoto up to her offer. She wanted to be a part of hi s children's life, and he wanted time to grieve for his beloved wife.

Leaning his head back on the sofa, Isshin looked up at the ceiling thinking that at any moment his eyes would see the roof burst open and the gates of heaven would open giving his dear wife back to him and his children. But such a thing did not happen, and thus he was not able to sleep even a little that night.

…..

Ichigo was asleep for a total of 10 minutes when the dreams started. At first it was a sweet memory of him and his family when they went to the park one day, they all ran around in circles as his mother stood in the middle with her golden hair whipping across her face in the wind and gleeful laughter erupting from her small frame.

"_Ah I'm gonna get ya!" Isshin said as she chased his three young children, he easily caught Yuzu and Karin , but Ichigo kept running as fast as he could in circles around his Mother and then around a nearby tree._

_He looked back to catch a glimpse of his Father running to him only to see no one there, nothing there, only darkness, and he could feel his young heart pump faster. _

_This was how it all started._

_He couldn't move, not that his movement was restricted, or anything of the sort. He was frightened so much that his legs would not respond to him. _

_Then that's when he heard it, the sound, the voice, the scream, but he could see nothing, only hear the scene as it played out. He heard the muffled scream of his Mother, then the sharp intake of breath of his Father, and then there was silence._

_Deafening Silence._

_The next thing that happened jolted young Ichigo from his dream, it was the face, the face of that man. It jumped out so fast that he hadn't the time to react, he was still too afraid to, so he did the only thing he knew how- run. _

_Run out of the darkness, and run out of the dream._

Ichigo jumped awake from his dream, it happened again. He wanted his Mother, maybe today wasn't her funeral, maybe it was all just a bad dream like the one he just had, but then he felt the all to familiar chill.

"No." He pleaded to the air, as tears started to form in his amber colored eyes.

"Momma please, please don't come back tonight."

…

"Orihime!" A supposed sweet voice said from the kitchen. The young girl rubbed her tired eyes, and stood up from underneath the table she once laid. She shuffled her small feet towards her mom the fastest she could.

"Yes, Mommy?" Orihime asked her in a slightly tired tone. Her mother, a young woman of 24 years of age, turned to look at her daughter with a look of pure disgust. Was she always so bright when she was younger?

"It took you long enough brat! Your father is coming home tonight, and you know how good for nothing he is. I don't feel like cooking dinner, and your brother is at work, so I want you to cook tonight." Her mother had hair a few shades darker than her daughter, and eyes the color of onyx; she would have been beautiful if she wasn't always so angry, and bitter, but she was so for a number of reasons.

Maybe it was due to her being a prostitute, or maybe it was her being a mother very early on in her life, and had to marry a no good alcoholic, and take care of his son at the ripe age of 15 years old.

"What should I make?" Orihime inquired softly, her Mother rolled her eyes, why did she always have to be so damn timid.

"I don't know just make something before he gets here. I don't want to have to deal with him while he is in a bad mood." Orihime shook her head, and watched as her Mother crossed the small Kitchen and slide open the ragged door to the lone bedroom in the house, and side it close as she stepped inside.

Orihime then got to work. She checked the pantry and the only thing she saw was a large stash of her father's favorite alcohol. Was this what he spent his money on- their money on?

Orihime did the first thing that came to mind and grabbed as much bottles as she could at a time and poured the beverages down the drain, and as she held the last one that was half way full she looked questioningly at the bottle and wondered what was so good about it that made her father love it more than her? She brought the bottle to her lips and took a large and greedy gulp, instantly regretting it.

The burning sensation that traveled down her throat all the way to her stomach made her want to gasp aloud. It hurt so much it feel like acid was getting poured down her throat. She took another sip to see if maybe she just drunk too much but then she soon realized that it still felt the same, and too soon after the drink's contents went down the drain.

"Where's my food at!" Her father stammered into the kitchen, Orihime was surprised that she had not heard him coming in; he usually was so loud when he came back home.

"I couldn't find any food." Orihime answered back timidly as she watched with wide eyes as her father rummaged through the pantry for his alcohol. He turned around suddenly and his brown eyes immediately took on the look of death and his large hands formed into fists.

"Girl where is my food!" He took a huge leap at her and grabbed at her hair, and if she was willing to stand up for herself she would have been able to avoided the pain surging through her scalp by moving out of his path. He tugged her head backwards with a swift tug and she fought the urge to scream out in pain.

"I said where is my food." His breath smelled of alcohol- a lot of it. She looked into his eyes that were glazed over and red.

"There is no food to make." He gave her another swift tug back to where her back was parallel to the ground and her neck was in an awkward angle due to his firm grip on her hair. She couldn't hold it in and she screamed out. It hurt so much she was sure she was bleeding.

Her mother shuffled out of the sole bedroom with her hair disheveled and her eyes half open.

"What's going on here?" For a second Orihime could almost believe that her mother really cared for her well-being, but the feeling was only fleeting when her mother saw her husband and she took a step back towards the bedroom with her hand on the door as if waiting for him to come over and attack her.

"Oh its nice you decided to wake up whore. Where do you get off stashing my food when I am hungry and want to eat it?" All the while he still held a firm grip on Orihime's hair. Her mother gave her small glance then looked back up at her steaming husband.

"There is no food Ryu. You spent all the damn money when you blew it all off on sake and prostitutes."

"Well it's better than giving the money to you. You don't let me drink and you don't have sex with me if I pay ya." He let go of Orihime in the process causing her to fall on her back but she was paid no heed as her mother and father were about to get into yet another fight.

So she quietly shuffled back to her safe spot underneath the table in the corner where she hoped no one would hurt her, or see her.


	2. Chapter 2

Nostalgia

Chapter 1

Standard Disclaimer applies

…

Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring.

It was 7:30 am when a hand snaked out from underneath the covers and roughly slammed down on the loud alarm clock. If possible Ichigo would have made it to where alarm clock's rings weren't so damn annoying and so resembling of a military horn.

Throwing his covers back, along with sitting up to gaze out his window for umpteenth time this school year, Ichigo ran a large and calloused hand through his bright orange locks. He had a feeling that today was going to be interesting very interesting whether he wanted it to be or not.

Making his way down the stairs Ichigo was already ready when his dad jumped through the air to try to sneak attack him, after all these years shouldn't his dad know that his attacks just were not so sneaky anymore, in fact they were down right sad so much so that if Ichigo was a laugher he would have been laughing every morning.

"Ah Ichigo why do you always have to ruin the fun?" Isshin whined in mock seriousness, just as he stood back the front door opened to reveal a less than cheery Rangiku.

"Oh hi Rangiku!" Isshin said as he made his way over to her, while she put down her purse on the counter.

"Hello." She answered back solemnly, she gave Ichigo a small smile as he nodded his head towards her in greeting then made his way to the kitchen.

"Why did you drop by this morning, Is something the matter?" Isshin asked Rangiku in all seriousness. She looked up at him and when she saw his dark eyes full attention on her she had to look away.

"I saw him again yesterday." He already knew who she was talking about. "I thought that you know maybe if I talked to him again, I could resolve something. But it didn't work out that way, I just ended up falling into his trap again, and I had to leave before he woke up." She held onto to her tears while she waited in silence for Isshin to say something. But for a long time he didn't.

"You let him stay at your place again?" She nodded slowly.

"Rangiku, maybe there is a part of you that still wants him to change for you, but you need to know that not everyone changes."

"But what should I do? I can't function on my own." Isshin shook his head in disbelief and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. God he was so warm.

"Rangiku, I know you, you are a very strong woman. If anything he needs you, because you are an incredible woman." Through blurry eyes she looked at him in disbelief.

"Really?"

"Really."

….

"Who was that Ichi-nii?" Yuzu inquired as she saw Ichigo walk into the kitchen as she sat at the table with a spoonful of eggs.

"Rangiku." He answered nonchalantly while he sat down in front of the plate that Yuzu set for him.

"Rangiku-san?" Karin asked in surprise, Ichigo thought it was only him that thought it was weird that Rangiku was here so early.

"Is something the matter?" Yuzu asked with her voice full of worry, Karin slightly rolled her eyes at her sister's worry.

"It probably has to do with that man she keeps sleeping with." Karin said, Yuzu gasped in shock at Karin's bold accusation.

"How can you say something like that Karin? It isn't right to talk bad about Ranny like that, right Ichi-nii?" Yuzu and Karin both looked at Ichigo in expectance.

"I think that its best to just stay out of it, its her life." Ichigo said while he eyes stayed plastered on the ceiling.

"But still it's not nice to talk about her in such a way, she's always been there for us, and taken care of us. The least we could do is to only speak kindly of her." Yuzu said with a tone of finality.

Ichigo looked at her in question and let out a slightly annoyed breath.

"Yuzu's right, she has taken care of us, and even if what you say is true Karin we shouldn't talk about it." Karin said nothing in reply, and they finished their breakfast in silence with only the sound of Yuzu's humming sounding through the room.

"Well I'm done." Karin said as she scooted back her chair, and performed her daily ritual which consisted of putting her plate in the sink, washing her hands, then putting on her backpack, and then finally walking out the door after putting on her shoes.

Yuzu looked at Ichigo as he finished up his plate of food, did he really mean what he said about Ranny?

"Ichi-nii, do you think that maybe we can help Ranny?"

"Huh?" His amber eyes were now fixated on his sister.

"Ichi-nii would it really be so bad if Ranny became our new mommy?" Ichigo's eyes immediately opened wide, and at this point his fists were curled so tight that he may have been bleeding, and he was trying his hardest not to question his younger sister's sanity. Did she really just ask him that question?

"Ichi-nii?" Yuzu inquired softly.

"I have to go." He said abruptly before he left, it was all he could do to keep himself calm. Why did the idea upset him so much? It wasn't like Rangiku wasn't already taking care of them, she was and he cared deeply for her just not as a replacement for his mother.

….

Isshin sat down in the living room with Rangiku quietly as they watched a mediocre show as the rest of the house was quiet. It was only a few minutes ago that the kids left, and now all Rangiku could think about was the ways she could persuade the man lounging next to her to ravage her right here and now. Her thoughts of her and her troubled lover flowing quickly to the back of her head.

Almost as if he could sense something going on with Rangiku, Isshin turned to her and looked at her until she acknowledged him. She knew he was looking, she just wanted to soak in the feeling of his eyes on her.

"What is it?" She asked as she looked at him with her pale blue eyes. He chuckled softly and turned his head.

"No don't laugh at me, tell me." Rangiku demanded as she grabbed onto Isshin's shoulder causing her to scoot closer to him in the process, their noses a few mere inches apart. If he was flustered he surely wasn't showing it.

"It's just that I was thinking about how much you have given up to take care of my children. I owe you so much, I just feel like there is something I need to do for you." He looked in her eyes for what seemed like hours. She looked away from his gaze then shortly after looked up again, and her gaze slowly fell from his dark eyes to his lips.

"You have already done so much for me, Isshin. I think I should be the one who owes you something." Isshin looked down at her, he wasn't so thick to not know when a woman was attracted to him, and at this point the could tell that Rangiku was very much so.

"Rangiku look-" Before he could finish his sentence his lips were silenced by Rangiku's who soft lips caressed his own. He couldn't fight the feeling that her mouth on his felt so right, but he wouldn't show her that, that was how he felt. He was lonely, yes after 8 years of being without a woman in his life, he should be taking Rangiku right now, but some part of his brain was telling him to stop, but his body- his body kept urging him on, to touch the voluptuous woman claiming his long forgotten lips.

Rangiku could feel the tension and the confliction in his body, and she wanted nothing more than to ease it out, so she scooted closer to his warm body, and slowly wrapped her arms around his torso and trailed butterfly kisses down his rugged jaw and his muscular neck.

"Hold me Isshin, please." She pleaded in between kisses, she was surprised she could do this much without him pushing her back that gave her hope that some part of him was willing to let her into his life, not only as a mother figure to his children, but as his lover, his other half, and maybe even in the future- his wife.

"Rangiku, I can't do this." Isshin said finally, as Rangiku's lips grazed his pulse. Damn it felt good, but he couldn't allow himself to get lost in her charms. It wasn't right, and a lot of people would end up getting hurt, especially Masaki.

Isshin softly pushed her back by her shoulders, and he almost couldn't look into Rangiku's eyes as she looked at him with tears close to falling down her face.

"Why can't you let me in Isshin? For eight years we've been going in circles around each other, you know how I feel about you Isshin, I'll never break your heart." Rangiku said quietly, as her eyes bore into Isshin's although he was avoiding her gaze.

"Rangiku this is about more than just you and me, this is about-"

"Masaki…" Rangiku answered before he could finish. They were both quiet for a long time before she spoke again.

"Why, Why can't you move on Isshin, she would have wanted you to. We may not have been on the best of terms but she was my sister, and I know how she would react to this." Isshin looked up at her.

"I know that Rangiku, but I don't think she would feel the same if I were to be with her sister."

.

x

"Ichigoooooo!" Ichigo didn't have to turn around to know that it was his obnoxious friend Kiego. Ichigo could hear the loud stomps his friend made as he tried to run to catch up with Ichigo in the hallway.

"Ah Ichigo you're so mean, I know you heard me call you, but you still didn't slow down, both you and Mizuiro are the meanest people I know." yelled Kiego as he caught up with Ichigo who was walking with Mizuiro, and Chad.

Ichigo didn't reply, he simply ignored him, his mind was on his dad and Rangiku. They couldn't possibly be together like that. His dad knew how they would feel about that, it would break him and his sisters, maybe not so much Yuzu, in their eyes no one could replace their mother.

"Hey Ichigo what's wrong?" Mizuiro asked while looking up from his cell phone.

"Nothing." Ichigo said in reply and that was the end of that discussion. Chad looked at Ichigo wearily, he knew when something was going on with Ichigo and today was no exception, ever since Ichigo told him about how close his dad and his Aunt Rangiku were getting in recent times Chad could tell that he was constantly on edge and always thinking of something else.

Entering the classroom, Ichigo made his way to his seat while greeting Ishida and Tatsuki. He was already prepared to have his mind wander during the class lecture, but of course like many thing in his life things would not go as planned.

"Attention class!" announced the teacher as she stood in front of her desk. Everyone's eyes snapped to the teacher in attention even Ichigo who wanted to avoid the wrath of his teacher.

"Today I have a surprise for all of you, a new student!"

Immediately the class burst in hysteria over the new student, if it was a boy he had better be cute or no would want to talk to him, they envisioned him with curly dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a face like Adonis. And if it was a girl, she had to be sweet, kind, and had to have rich raven hair, and eyes the color of onyx. That wasn't anything like the new student yet to be revealed.

"Quiet or you'll all have clean up duty today after school." The class quickly shut their mouths and waited for the student to enter. "Okay sweetheart you can come in now."

The class was deathly silent as the new student walked in, she was definitely not what they had expected. She didn't have rich raven hair, or beautiful onyx colored eyes, in fact her hair was the color of a sunset and her eyes the color of the deepest gray. In description she would have seemed like the most beautiful creature to roam the Earth, what with her curvaceous body, full lips, and seemingly soft skin, but to the eyes of the her newly made classmates, she was absolutely strange in appearance. Her hair that should be long and flowing in cascading waves was cut in a choppy manner it seemed as if she had hastily cut her hair before coming to school. Her large, round eyes were puffy and red, anyone in the classroom could tell that she had just finished crying.

Tatsuki immediately told herself that she was going to take care of this girl, and make her, her best friend she didn't want to see her cry again.

Kiego immediately thought, mine, mine, mine. I can finally get a girl with a good body, but is in my league!

Mizuiro thought that Kiego was a complete idiot for thinking the thoughts that Mizuiro knew he was thinking, even a girl like that wouldn't want to be with someone as annoying as him.

Chizuru thought Look at the rack on that one hopefully she is into the same kind of stuff as me.

Ichigo thought nothing about the girl except that she looked like someone who would probably be afraid of him like everyone else, but the one thing that did catch his interest was her auburn hair, he thought that he was the only person in Karakura Town to have such outlandish hair.

"Class this Inoue Orihime, and she is from southern Japan." The teacher gave Orihime a small smile, "Is there anything you would like to add Inoue?"

Orihime shook her head slightly, and nervously looked around the room, and surprise was apparent on her face when she saw Ichigo. A blush quickly found its way to her face, she couldn't believe how attractive the scowling boy was, she just hoped she wouldn't have to sit next to him. And to her great and glorious luck she did, at a window just two seats away from him.

After Orihime settled the teacher quickly began her lesson plan for the day, and just when Orihime thought she could survive the first day without really like new student minus the introduction and the glances she get sometimes from curious students, the teacher called for a partner assignment that would be due by tomorrow.

Orihime sat alone by herself as she saw everyone quickly find a partner, even the scowling red head found a partner, a large guy with thick brown curls falling into his face. Well what could she expect she was the new kid, and unless she was incredibly attractive she wasn't going to get a partner, not with her hairstyle and her seemingly puffy eyes.

"Hey want to be my partner?" Orihime turned to see a tomboyish looking girl with short spiky hair looking down at her with serious eyes.

"Sure." Orihime replied with a smile.

"My name is Arisawa Tatsuki by the way." She then stuck her hand for Orihime to shake which she did. Her grip on Orihime's hand was tight letting Orihime know that this chick was tough and she didn't let anyone walk over her.

"So what do you want to want to get started on first?" Tatsuki asked.

.

x

Chad wasn't normally someone who talked about the issues going on around him in fact he barely talked at all, but when he saw the intense glare Ichigo was sending towards the new girl when he should have been working on their project he couldn't help but question Ichigo.

"Ichigo?" No reply

"Ichigo?" Still no reply, so instead of calling out to Ichigo again he nudged him with his fist using as little of force as possible.

"What is it Chad?" Ichigo with a hint of venom in his voice, which surprised Sado he normally was never on the receiving end of Ichigo's anger.

"Nothing, just wanted to get started on the project." And soon after they did causing Ichigo to stop thinking about the new girl who looked so familiar to him and it irritated him that he couldn't remember something like that.

Orihime let out a breath that she was holding in when she felt the scowling boy's eyes leave the side of her face. Tatsuki sensing Orihime's inner turmoil smirked knowingly and decided that after school today she was going to give Ichigo a piece of her mind for staring at Orihime like that.

"Hey Orihime, do you live far from here or anything?" Tatsuki asked, Orihime shook her head.

"No, not really why?"

"I was thinking that maybe we could walk home together, considering you're new and all. I mean unless a family member picks you or something like that. I don't really know how things work in the south." Orihime let out a small giggle at Tatsuki's ramble.

"No it's fine we can walk together."

Orihime knew that from this point on that she could count on Tatsuki to be a good friend to her, and maybe when the time was right Orihime could finally open up about her past.

.

x

Rangiku pulled the strap of her bag over shoulder, then turned around to look back at Isshin who had his arms crossed but not in an impatient manner.

"I want you to think about what I said Isshin, I meant what I said I won't break your heart. I care too much about you to ever do anything like that." Rangiku said, before she placed a light kiss on the corner of Isshin's mouth.

"I think that I'm going to go away for a while." Rangiku said suddenly just as her hand reached the door knob.

"Away?" Isshin asked finally finding his voice.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you to come with me, but as things are now, this trip is for me." Rangiku's attitude changed back to her usual feisty and independent way.

"Maybe it would be for the best if you did go away for awhile." Isshin said, and Rangiku couldn't pretend that she wasn't hurt by his comment. Did he really not want her that much?

"I'm not going to be gone for a long time, maybe a week or two. I need to visit my mother, she's very sick. You should go and see her."

"No, I can't." Isshin said without a second thought. There was no way he could face Masaki's mother after everything that happened. It had been after all a catalyst towards Masaki's death.

"No one blames you Isshin." replied Rangiku, with a mixture of exasperation and pity.

"No, but I need to blame me. I could have saved her." Isshin mumbled quietly to himself.

Rangiku opened the door and without looking back at Isshin and said, "You know you don't always have to be the hero, that's why Ichigo is the way he is you know."

.

x

A/N: Whew glad I finished with this chapter because I can't wait to get down to all the good stuff, and reveal all the stuff you thought you knew! Anyway Thanks for reading and please review criticism helps a lot.


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